Here is twenty one. Vote and comment if you like. Oh, I also decided to enter the Watty Awards. So eventhough I might not win, it will motivate me to finish the story faster.
Lia
***
Primula POV
Inside the cave was cold, dark and wet. Water constantly dripped from the walls making a patter sound on the rocks, penetrating the quiet. The green orb Vates provided for us to use as a source light had burned out long time ago along with the witch’s energy making it impossible for her to create another one. The sound of wind whistling like a ghost’s cries outside the cave merged with the sound of dripping water creating a tense atmosphere that had everyone on edge.
Through the entrance of the dark and eerie cave, brownish gold sand blowing along with the wind could be seen, reminding me why we were stuck sitting inside a hole in the rock. Heat from the desert land outside our hideout warmed the wet walls inside the cave causing all of us to sweat profusely as we lie around on rocks praying for the sandstorm to finish.
No one dare spoke; the tension and hostility between us could be cut with a knife. Eyes turned away from each other, we all sat in our own corner lost in our thoughts. The quiet was deafening, but to break such silence would be worst than going outside in the sand shower that was taking place.
Although the pressure in the cave was unbearable, nobody wanted to break it because that would mean starting a fire. We were all waiting to blow up at each other; we just needed someone or something to instigate it. But since this was not happening anytime soon, we all just lie in our own corner seething.
I sighed closing my eyes and trying to erase the reason as to why we were stuck in a cave with our emotion running high. But the memories refused to be lock away, instead they came flooding back.
****
My mind flashed back to the day Krista and Zero found out that they were mates. Krista was so happy she never stopped smiling not even when I didn’t congratulate her like the others had done. I just wanted us to stop standing in the forest and reach the cave before we lost the light of the fading sun. I knew the moon wouldn’t be up so relying on moonlight was futile.
Finally, and at the expense of almost losing my sanity – what was left of it – we were on our way with Zero holding Krista while Arion held Vates. Dean and the ex-mate didn’t dare asked me if I wanted to be carry again and for that I commanded them because I was an inch away from losing it. Ready, we resumed our journey to the cave in the desert smoother than before. Well not as smooth, I was tired but refused to admit it and I could see the ex-mate was faltering as well but he tried his best to hide it and keep up.
After what seemed like days but was only one hour, we arrived at the small cave Vates was able to identify on her map. The cave was hidden in a corner. It was a big contrast from the sandy desert we were standing in front.
It was getting dark now, and the sun had completely set so the desert was cool but from what I was told, it would get colder the deeper we get into the night.
I peeked into the dark small cave not able to see much with my werewolf eyes. From what I could see, the place was rocky and moldy on the inside. I could also hear the sound of water dripping on rocks.
When the question of needing light to see in the cave came up, Vates volunteered to create something from magic. The green shining orb she created was not only helpful to us but even more convenient for her since her eyes didn’t work as effectively in the dark like the six of ours’ did.
At first we debated whether using the light was a good idea since something seem to be stalking us. Although the ominous feeling went away the moment we entered the desert, that didn’t mean we shouldn’t take precautionary measure. In the end the urge to see what was inside the cave won over and we opted for using the light. We all agreed that if we could see our enemy, than fighting it would be easier.
So with that decided we entered the cave and the smell of old and musty earth instantly bombarded our sensitive noses. The cave was full of molds and cob webs and some other green and slimy substances I couldn’t recognize. Small inserts crawled along the walls and floors causing Krista and Vates to let out an unladylike screeched – basically they screamed like banshees.
Although the place was a little disconcerting for me, it was nothing new. Try being locked in a stinky old basement dominated with the smell of bleach while small insert of all kind constantly crawled over you, then you wouldn’t be bothered with a cave. My experiences with the pack has caused me not to fear or be surprised at almost anything.
Since Vates and Krista could not stopped screaming at every little thing, the witch decided to use her magic to clean the cave and make it presentable. I just stood in the corner watching her waste her powers transforming the cave from dark and frightening to bright – the green light – and clean while Krista stood beside Zero cheering her on. I just rolled my eyes waiting for her to finish so I could find a smooth rock to lie on and sleep. When she was finally done, the others nodded in appreciation while I just snorted.
“There, all better,” Vates beamed.
“What, no king size bed and a banquet?” I mocked her.
Before she could say I walked to a smooth rock in a corner of the cave. I put my bag of food down and opened the backpack I used for clothes and took out my trusted blanket. I used my bag of clothes as pillow and lie down on the rock covering with my blanket. I heard the others sighed probably at my behavior but I ignored them.
“You should come eat.” The ex-mate called out to me. I stiffened at the smell of food and turned around to see them opening bags to start eating.
“What are you all doing?” I demanded.
They stopped their activities, staring at me. “Eating.” Arion raised his eyebrow like I was crazy.
“I can see that!” I snapped at them. “But what I don’t understand is why?”
“Because it’s been hours since we last ate and we need our energy.” Zero snorted at me. I gripped my hair and sighed in frustration. Lune help me – these people were insane.
“Put those food away!” I snapped in irritation.
“Why?” Krista whined.
“Because we just lost all our supplies in the car meaning what we all have in our backpacks are the only source of food available to us. Everyone already ate, so save those food for another day at least until we know where to find something edible.”
I tried to keep the anger out of my voice but they at least had to know something that basic. Maybe it was just me who find saving food vital. Back at the pack house, whenever me and Primrose get our hands on some food, we save and eat it slowly since we didn’t know when the next one would come. I was used to sacrificing my stomach for a few days just so I could eat when I was at the brink of starvation.
“Majority of us here are werewolves, so we can hunt in the forest if it comes to that.” Dean smiled nervously trying to appease me.
“Yes, we should go hunting, in the forest, where someone or something is stalking us. That’s a brilliant idea.” I sneered at him. The guys were beginning to see my point as they deflated and started packing their bags stuffing the food inside reluctantly.
“Fine, we will save the food, but at least eat something. Please? You are the only one who did not eat all day.” The ex-mate stared at me.
I snorted. I didn’t need him worrying about me. “I’ve gone weeks without eating so a single day won’t hurt me. Plus it’s at night, so we can use that as an excuse not to eat and just sleep.” The ex-mate let out a loud breath – I just ignored him.
“But we’re hungry!” Vates and Krista complained. I saw Zero hesitating; he was going to ignore everything I said and give Krista food just to please her.
“Fine, the two of you can eat.” I said causing both of them to beam while the guys gawked at me. “But –” I waited and they stopped opening their backpacks and gazed at me. “Just so the two of you know, the smell of food might attract inserts. Vates might have gotten rid of the ones inside but who knows what’s lurking out there. Something could crawl inside the cave while we are sleeping and slither in your ears.”
I wiggled my fingers as their jaws dropped. Krista buried her face in Zero neck, whimpering. He glared at me trying to calm her down. Vates shut she and Krista’s backpack quickly and started to mumble some incantation probably to make sure the bags were tightly sealed. After she was done, she crawled in a corner looking all around as she bite her fingers nails. I watched her jumped at every sound or movement she saw while covering her ears.
The guys watched her, sympathy the dominant emotion on their faces. They turned their sympathetic gaze to Krista who was shaking in Zero arms. Dean and the ex-mate got up and sat on either side of Vates. She jumped when she heard them coming but clanged to them when they sat near her.
I stared at both women and smiled creepily at my handy work. I felt a glared on my face and turned to Arion who was shaking his head at me in disappointment. I twisted my face into a satisfy smirk not ashamed at all that I had probably scar Vates and Krista for life. They might never sleep freely again.
I saw Arion mouthing – “you’re the only danger in this cave. Godzilla.” I scowled at him but my creepy and happy emotion never went away as I turned my back on the group and covered myself with my trusted blanket. Ah, peace and quiet, how I missed thee, I thought to myself before falling into a dreamless but bleak sleep.
I woke up early in the morning; the sun was just coming up. I looked around to see the others still sleeping. It looked like nothing had come into the cave. I slowly opened my bag and took out my tooth brush using the smallest amount of water to brush my teeth and clean my face. After I was done, the others still hadn’t woken up yet so I took out a small cheese and bread for my breakfast eating it and downing the meal with water. I picked up my backpacks and dodged my way to the entrance of the cave careful not to wake up anyone. I stepped outside looking around the endless land of sand stretched out for miles. I decided it was time to start looking for the Seers; if we searched for them as early as possible, we might be able to see them before nightfall.
With that thought in mind, I went back in the cave and stood at the entrance clapping my hands and speaking loudly. “Rise and shine Princesses.”
They all jumped up quickly looking around for any sign of danger. When they didn’t see anything, they stared at me apprehensively questioning with their eyes why was I torturing them. “I decided it was time to start searching for the Seers,” I said causing all of them to groan.
“What time is it?” Krista asked still clutching to Zero.
“About 5am in the morning,” I told her. So maybe I got up too early but I just couldn’t go back to sleep. I guess old habits die hard.
“Why so early? Let us sleep and we can wake up later to start searching.” Vates told me causing the others to nod as she tried going back to sleep.
“No, I decided we go now!” I snapped. “Plus after you’re all done with preparation it would be later.” I sat down on a small rock waiting for them.
“Of course you decided,” Vates whispered bitterly. She thought I didn’t hear her but I was a werewolf – I think – my hearing was excellent.
“You say something?” I stared at her waiting for her to repeat what she said. I could feel the tension in the room; the others probably heard her as well and were scared of what could happen. She shook her head getting up.
I let it go, waiting for them to get ready. I didn’t even bother saying anything as they used too much water to brush their teeth and wash their faces. Nor did I say a word when they basically ate all the food they had just for breakfast. By the time they were done, it was about 7am in the morning and we were on our way.
Things started to fall apart slow and gradually. First we searched all around the desert but we didn’t find a single trace of the Seers. I wasn’t even sure what we were looking for. The desert was dry, and hot and we used up most of our water supplies to quench our thirst. The five of us that were werewolves suffered the most because our temperature ran really hot, so when you add that to the desert’s heat, we were basically a walking furnace. Zero was probably the only one not completely affected by the heat. His body temperature was very cold which Krista did not mind taking advantage of. Walking around the desert in circle, I became curious as to why Zero could take the sun at all.
“Why are you able to walk in the sun and not burn up?” I asked Zero to alleviate my curiosity.
He looked at me and answered looking deep in thought. “I maybe the child of Mortkros but that doesn’t mean I burn up in the sun. Sure my kind likes the night but we are not affected by the daylight. The only reason we hate it is because our skin are pure and we tend to tan in the wrong places whenever we are in the sun.”
I nodded absorbing the information but before I could ask another question, he spoke. “I know you are also curious as to why I eat food and not drink blood. My kind can live either on blood or food. In fact, we don’t really need blood. It’s more like a habit. The rumors that we are the dead who was bitten thus becoming a vampire was started by us. Every vampire is born, not bitten. We stopped drinking blood because of the hunters although we the leaders still do once in awhile, but we have a blood bank rather than hunting humans –”
“What?” Arion asked in shock cutting Zero off.
“Oh please, don’t be surprise. I’m sure there are secrets about werewolves I don’t know either. Are you telling me your kind uphold all the demands of the hunters?”
Arion looked away. I frown not getting their conversation at all.
“So you don’t drink blood because of the hunter? Why?” I asked getting back to my question.
“It was the deal we made with the hunters. Once upon the time, our kind unnecessarily haunted humans for their blood causing the human world to become aware of us. Well other supernatural beings had a hand in this mass exposure not just vampires. So the humans rise up, created weapons that could be detrimental to us and starting hunting us. Of course more of them died then any supernatural beings they hunted. Afraid we would extinct the human race and become something dark and sinister, the council of supernaturals called the hunters and made a deal with them. All interferences from our world would stop – the hunters would be given the power to hunt down anyone who attack the humans, like rogues and they would stop hunting us. But if they hunt a supernatural being for no reason, the human race would be extinct before they can even blink.” He finished his explanation.
I never knew this at all – so this was how hunters were created?
“That’s the treaty in a nutshell. Of course there are other clauses beneficial to both sides. But the main one we all try our best to follow even going so far as to punish anyone who break it is the ‘no interferences in the human world rule.’ Because of this, the supernatural world had to sit back and watch the humans made some huge blunders. But it is not our place to meddle unless something supernatural happens.” Arion added.
What he said got me thinking about the shadows. I mean they wouldn’t really follow this rule right? Yet they seem to be doing just that. It was very strange and puzzling. I wonder… I thought to myself.
“About what?” The ex-mate asked from next to me causing me to jump. I didn’t even know I said that out loud.
“Nothing, I was just thinking about the shadows. They seem to be following this no interference rule. I’m puzzle as to why they would care about something like that.” I voiced out my curiosity.
“Maybe they don’t want too much exposure.” He told me.
After that, nobody spoke as we continued our meaningless search for the Seers. We searched the entire day, but found nothing. Vates, our psychic had no idea where they were. I was getting really annoyed with her. The next day, we got up and did the same thing again. This routine continued for days and days but still nothing.
We have been on this ridiculous search for about three weeks now we have found absolutely nothing. We couldn’t communicate with the council in the neutral zone because the phones were all dead. I don’t even think we could have gotten signal in the desert. Vates couldn’t contact the Wiccans because all the materials she needed were lost during the destruction of our car.
Our food supply were all gone by now; we had no strength to go hunting and whenever we got the courage to go, the same feeling of being follow would come back. After a while we try to ignore it and hunt some small game that was still lurking around as fast as possible before going back to the safety of our cave.
To be honest, I was getting sick and tired of whatever was stalking us. If it wanted a fight, why hide in the shadows at all? What the heck was it waiting for?
Another problem we faced was the ex-mate. He was now completely drained of energy. After screaming at them to tell me what the heck was wrong with him, Vates, Zero and Arion finally relented. Apparently Eligor had given him a confidence serum but now it had wore off.
Problem was his energy shouldn’t have depleted this fast because Eligor give Vates an antidote in case something like this happens, but dare I say it? It was destroyed along with our vehicle. Vates couldn’t make a new one for various reasons. One, she didn’t know how. Two, all the ingredients she would need was also gone. Three she was completely drained of energy, she looked worse than the ex-mate.
****
Now here we were, three weeks of wandering without finding anything. We had completely abandoned our search for the Seers in favor of staying alive. We couldn’t go back because honestly they were too ashamed and I was too stubborn. So we were stuck in the cave waiting for the desert storm to cease so the ones strong enough could go hunting for food. Now it was only me, Dean, Zero and Arion strong enough to go out.
I had kept my portion of food and ate it little at a time but even I couldn’t be that mean. I knew what it was like to starve so I didn’t mind sharing with them. But my ration had ran out days ago.
Stuck in the cave nobody said anything. We all blame each other for our failure of not finding the Seers or the nymphs.
I knew they blamed me for my constant snappiness and anger towards them. I never once failed to tell them how much I hated them, Arion included! They also felt I should have known where to find the Seers and nymphs since I seem to be Ms. Know it all.
I blamed Vates for failing to have a vision. My main point was she should have seen all of this coming. I also blamed her for not being able to create an antidote for the ex-mate. He was an alpha, his strength would have been a good addition to our hunting party but now he was slowly dying. Maybe not dying but still!
Zero was angry at us for our constant cruel remarks to his mate. It wasn’t our fault; she was constantly hungry and whining; in fact she was so hungry, I felt the strong need to give her my portion of food but I didn’t. why should I? We were angry at Zero because he refused to tell Krista to stop being annoying.
Everyone was angry at Dean because he kept hearing bells and chimes causing him to smile all the time. It was damn creepy.
We were extremely pissed off at Arion for trying to keep the peace. He needed to shut up sometimes and let us beat each other to death.
I was also angry at the ex-mate – which the others thought was cruel – for choosing now to be sick. Couldn’t he have picked another time? Like when we were back at the neutral zone where I was planning to rip Eligor’s ear off? At the moment, everyone was on my blacklist. The ex-mate was probably the only one who was neutral. He was too busy being sick to be annoyed at anyone although I did see him gritting his teeth every time when we screamed.
I sighed for what seem like the thousandth time. I could hear Vates gritting her teeth in the background. “You have something to say Primula?” She sneered.
“Nope,” I answered popping the p.
She snorted, “that’s a first.” I slowly got up and turned to her with a nasty snarled on my face.
“Let’s hear it. What did I do this time?” I snapped.
She got up facing me. “What did you do you ask? I see you in your corner glaring daggers at me. Admit it, you hate me.”
What the heck was she on about? She knew how I felt about her from the very beginning. “Of course I hate you, you fool! In fact, I hate everyone of you in this cave. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Before Vates could open her mouth to say anything, Krista mumbled, “here we go again.”
“Krista,” I called livid. “You have something to add too?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do have something to add.” She stood up from her position on Zero’s lap. “Primula, we have apologized to you for everything so many times. But you still hold this over us. In fact, it’s like the more we apologies, the more your hatred for us grows. You are always angry and we constantly have to walk on pins and needles around you. Me, Jebidiah, Dean and Vates all said we were sorry but you don’t even care. We’ve tried making it up to you, but you won’t even let us. Heck, we even asked Zero and Arion to apologize on our behalf but still you never relented. You are the definition of fear; almost everyone here is afraid of you. Is that what you want? Because if that’s it, then congratulation, you succeeded. But I can’t take it anymore. I can’t take not knowing when you will blow up… it just exhausting.” She screamed in frustration.
I glared at her, not even caring about anything she just said. “Now you know how I felt.” I said coldly.
“So that’s it?” I turned around on Dean who had also decided to join the conversation. “This is revenge? You are not going to forgive us, are you? You rather see us died.” He waited to see if I would answer.
I didn’t, I only lock my jaw and glared at him with a blank expression on my face. “You. Want. Us. Dead!” he realized. His horrified gaze turned to the ex-mate and then back at me. “It must please you to know that Jebidiah is dying. That way, you won’t have to deal with him. Our death really is the only solution to your hatred isn’t it?” he whispered closing his eyes as silent tears roll down his cheek.
The entire cave was now silent as they all waited for me to answer. It’s funny, after everything I did for them they were now turning on me. But there was true to what Dean and Krista said. The thing that was constantly stalking us increased my anger and hate and I never failed to remind them of my abuse.
Honestly, when the ex-mate started to get weaker and weaker, I felt a huge sense of satisfaction. It wasn’t a lie that I sometimes felt a hint of happiness whenever one of them was hurt. And I sometimes feel that if one of them were to died, maybe the constant hatred that was consuming my soul would lessen.
I was beginning to lose who I was. The fact that I didn’t see Primrose in my dreams anymore could attest to this. There were days I didn’t even think of her. I locked eyes with all of them one at a time and told them the truth.
“Yes, if all of you were dead, I might gain some form of peace. Right now, you are all the bane of my existence.” I said truthfully. The past few weeks has taken its toll on me. And I was regretting even agreeing to help them. I watched Krista cried, running to Zero for comfort. Vates bowed her head and went to sit in a corner. Dean let out a huge breath as silent tears rolled down his face. Zero shook his head at me in disappointment. I looked to Arion – he refused to meet my eyes. From what I could see of his face, it was blanked with no emotion. He sat down in a corner and closed his eyes. His reaction hurt the most for reasons I couldn’t understand. It felt like I disappointed my father which was ridiculous because I despised the man. And for the second time in my life, I felt my heart shatter into pieces. I didn’t even know I still had one! I didn’t even bother looking at the ex-mate. I just stood in the middle not knowing what to do.
“You are all so annoying.” I turned around to see the ex-mate using the cave wall to stand up from where he was laying. We all turned to him, waiting to see what he would say. He was forcing himself to stand even though he looked like he could faint any moment.
“I know that this quest has been one failure after another but that doesn’t mean we should all blow up at each other. You all treat Primula like she’s the bad guy. But news flash, you,” he pointed to Dean, “and you,” he pointed to Krista, “and me are *the villains of this story.”
The others laughed causing him to smile. Apparently he told some joke I didn’t get but the tension was instantly diffused. “We can’t just expect her to forgive us so soon. And even if she won’t let us, it’s our job to work harder at it. Plus, if our death is the only way she would feel satisfied then so be it.” He slowly walked to the mouth of the cave refusing help. “The sand storm is over, what do you guys say we go to the forest and face our stalker? I have been coming up with ways for us to find the Seers, the nymphs, anybody, and I think facing this threat is our only solution.”
At this we all jumped up demanding for him to tell us his plan but he refused saying we needed to defeat our stalker first. So with defeated sighs, and slight excitement, we all pack our things and started for the forest. I looked at the ex-mate who was being supported by Arion and Dean and felt thankful towards him. I will never tell him this, but he practically saved my life back there.
Before I knew it, we were already in the forest and the strong malice I’ve been feeling increased. “What now?” I asked the ex-mate.
“Now, we wait. If this thing want us, it will come.” I frowned at him but refrain from saying anything. So with our heart beating erratically in our chest we waited for the threat to come. And come it did.
(I was going to end it here but I’m not that cruel)
It came in numbers. Before I could blink, we heard a vicious growl and we were surrender by about twenty black wolves. No, not wolves; these things look like a grotesque version of man and wolf. They could stand on their hind legs and their muzzle were protruded upward to what almost looked like the face of a wolf and man morph together. They opened their razor sharp tooth as saliva drool from their mouths.
I heard Vates whispered, “lycanthrope.”
Her words must have been a signal for them because they attacked. Dean, Krista, Arion and the ex-mate – who looked like he was about to collapse – shifted but their puny wolf form compared to the things standing before us looked like a joke.
I saw Arion’s wolf pouncing on one of them but instead of making contact, he just pass right through the thing’s body. He looked back at it in confusion but it kicked, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Zero who had pulled a sword from nowhere was also having the same problem. Every attacked that was landed on the those things were ineffective. I joined the fight, but every time I tried to attack one of the them, it would doge me and move away. It was like they had no intention in fighting me.
After what seemed like hours of the others being thrown against trees coming out looking beaten and bloody, we all gather around as they slowly advanced on us. I gazed at the face of death, waiting for what was about to come.
If only I could produce my energy ball, but I didn’t have the strength. To do that I would need a wiccan. My eyes widened and I ignored the threat about to devour us and looked down. I found Vates hand and grabbed it, feeling energy entering my body from her. I put my right hand up right as the things reached us, about to rip our heads off. Blue light flashed in the air.
Vates jerked her hands from mine and dropped to the ground staring up at me in horror. But the task was accomplished. The thing was gone; my energy ball saved us. I saw Vates stood up as the others shifted putting on clothes. She glared at me with fear and shock in her eyes.
“You stole my energy.” She whispered as if she was shock I could be capable of something like that. I rolled my eyes; all she had to say was thank you.
“You’re welcome. After all I did just save our lives.” I mocked her.
She laughed bitterly. “you know nothing. You can’t just reach inside somebody and steal their energy without permission. That’s black magic – It will rot your soul!”
I snorted. “It’s a good thing I have no soul.” She stared at me for a while and shouldered. She looked away but didn’t say anything.
The others came back from changing, beaming at me. The only people not thanking me was Vates and Zero. He had watched our argument without saying anything. And judging from the way he was looking at me, he agreed with Vates.
“Thank you, Primula. You saved our lives.” The ex-mate smiled, standing in front of me. “Now I can tell you all my idea to find the nymphs.”
I frown, the nymphs? I thought we were looking for the Seers? But before I could ask him I felt a hostility so vast and dark, my heart almost collapsed from such deep hatred.
Whoever was the owner of this emotion was pure evil inside out. More evil than the shadows for that matter. The others stiffened looking around in fear. We all knew that whatever was coming, we would never be able to escape.
I don’t know why I did it, maybe it was just reflex. But I pushed the ex-mate who was standing facing me on the ground as something flashed by us dragging me by my clothes.
I screamed as everyone look on in shock. Nobody seemed to know how to react as one of the man/wolf thing dragged me away. It dragged my body across the ground not caring if I was bumping into trees. My bare skin was probably raw from the scrapes, bruises and cuts the rough ground left. I knew some part of my body was bleeding as I was bumped into trees, roots and rocks as small pebbles buried themselves into my soft skin.
The ex-mate jumped into action and with a strength I didn’t know he possessed he dashed after us as my scream filled the forest. We were reaching a darker part of the forest and the ex-mate slide on the ground grabbing my right hand. But the instant our hands connected, he let go convulsing as he stared at me in shock, tears rolling down his cheek. My no touching rule! I thought sadly.
“JEBIDIAH!" I screamed his name as I was pulled into the unknown.
***
(Okay maybe I’m a little cruel!)
*What Jebidiah said: Comes from Smallvill's Lex Luthor.
You were right about me all along Mr. Kent. I am the villain of the story. (Lex Luthor)
One of the best lines in television history.
Comments? Questions?